The security section of the barracks. Call it a police station, call it the brig. This is not a place to be unless you work here.

From: Barracks Thread

   Before Captain Maxwell could determine what her next actions should be, Marco patched Lt. Shadow to her.

   "Lieutenant Shadow, I appreciate your suggestion, but isn't your fighter designed for reconnaissance and defense once we've slowed to an in-system speed?  I'm not sure that it could keep up with the Marco Polo under constant acceleration.  I'm told the actual Captain will be functional in a few hours.  It might be best to hold off and ask him once he assumes command.  He will probably get an engineering team to go over the launch and recovery systems before anyone uses them.  If I had a spare engineering crew sitting around, that is what they would be doing."

   Jen took a few minutes to start a pot of coffee brewing.  She hoped the boiling water would kill any pathogens in the water from the long journey.  As she looked for where the packers had stored the mugs, the aroma of the java brewing brought her more awake than all of the functions the cryo pod had preformed.  Jenni found her mug, the one marked with the "1*" logo, setting it by the coffee pot.

   She next accessed the cabinet outside of the prisoner detention area for a mylar sealed food bar normally reserved for prisoner meals.  The bars were nutritionally balanced four hundred calorie meals that tasted vaguely like whatever flavor was printed on the wrapper.  She selected a coconut bar, poured herself a cup of coffee, and sat down at the front desk to try to enjoy her first meal awake.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:49, Fri 12 May 2017.

   Jen is about to take her first sip of the hot, life restoring, caffeinated beverage when her meal is interrupted.  "Lt. Shadow, I'm in the Security Office.  I'll go through the crew roster in a few minutes and see if I can find you any help.  Right now, I'm going to enjoy my first cup of coffee in over a hundred years.  I'm no doctor, but you should probably consider getting something to eat and drink as well."

   Jenni smiled.  "I have no information about any other functioning coffee pots.  I'll set a cup out for you."  The detective took a sip of the hot brew.  It warmed her in ways that the cryo unit was unable to achieve.

   She accessed the desk terminal to bring up information on the colonist status to find that the first fifty cryos were releasing their occupants.  Acting Captain Maxwell smiled.  "I might have to put on another pot."

<<<<<<<<  Shadow  from Hanger.

     There is a  knock on the door ,..LT Shadow 'ere? Ready for that Coffee, if its  still  ready?

  He steps in taking off his  809 squadron ball Cap...got a peak at my quarters. they aren't so bad.....Patterson is takin' a sleep right now?

  Standing  by the door holding his cap, he sorta  waits  to be allowed the rest of the way in...

   Maxwell felt well dressed and official in her black security jumpsuit, boots, and police equipment belt.  Her black hair was pulled back into a ponytail.  "Welcome to my office.  The coffee is over there.  There are mugs in the cabinet to the left of the machine.  I hope you like your coffee black.  I haven't found the cream and sugar, yet."

   She had gotten a second coconut bar from the locker before he had arrived.  Jen offered it to him.  "Here's an energy bar.  They taste rather average when new.  All I can say in its defense is that it qualifies as food."

  He nods..his  Flight jacket  with the 'Flying 'roo' on the back. Is Number  on the sleeve as well as  flags of   Aussieland  and the  RAN.

 his  weapons  belt  well seated and  at least two knifes were easy to see, how many more?... his  green  eyes  darted to the cabinet  as he put his hat on  a stand near the door. his  black hair a bit mussed from the showers they had to take.

 ..yeah..Black is ok..i perfer milk and  sugar..but its one thing they taught is is survival, when ya get to a coffee shop. you might have ta make do...  once he gets the  Coffee he'll sit opposite  of   Jen, opening the bar, he takes a bit,

 ..well..not a bleeding Vegemite..but it will do... i was startin' to shake a bit..didn't even know, until ya mentioned  food...

 Chasing the first bite  down with coffee, he says,don't know what the 9  'ells  were supposed ta do now?...back on earth, if there is anything left..we're just a footnote in  history books now?.. " The Lost MArco "..or somethin'

   Jen took a sip of coffee as she pondered what Kray was saying.  "I guess we do what we've always done when push has come to shove.  We survive."   The detective tried to work up enough enthusiasm to eat another bite of the uninspiring energy bay, but she wasn't there yet.  "A lot of people worked very hard to give us this shot at survival.  I'm damn sure not going to waste their sacrifices."

  He nods as he takes another sip,he grimaces  but  takes  another,..despite the lack of sugar an' all This feels good going  down., I wonder what kind of tucker  would  could  fix, in the mess area..or..the recdeck?

 Then  his  smile shortens a bit,..ya have the  Right of  it there Captain... an' it was not just their sacrifices.. some of us did as well..eh?

  His smile grows again,..I'd like ta see the feeds from earth.. see if Goolong  won any flags since i left?..Have ta have won a few in 100 years.. don't ya think?

 then he takes another bite of the bar. she shakes his head but eats it anyway,..think if they would have found this under a log, we'd have left it there...better ta eat the bloody wrapper!

 Well?...Captain..whatta we do next?... there has  ta be more blokes and shielas wakin' up...be nice if  we   knew where the 9 'ells we were...

   Jen debated a moment on whether to admit to what they were eating.  "Actually, we're eating prisoner rations.  These bars are nutritionally balanced, but not...  ummm... flavorful?  They seem to keep forever and allow us to handle detention situations with a minimum of personnel.  I'm sure the rec deck will have infinitely better... tucker?  If that means food, of course."

   Maxwell turned the display screen to show Lt. Shadow the screen showing that pods one through fifty had been activated for thawing.  "Here's your blokes and shielas.  The Command Staff are being brought back to consciousness.  Oh, and what is a Goolong?"

  he looks  at the screen  and nods at the folks being  awaken.

  The he grins , before taking another  sip of the coffee,..Geelong.. is near Melbourne?.. I sau Goolong..but  its  Geelong...

 I got  ta play 1 year and a half  for the Geelong Cats in the AFL..was leadin' the team  in marks, and 3rd in tackles... my second year..But the Navy needed me, so my  parttime was taken away?... not  all bad though..I like flyin' as much as football..Seems I don't have a choice now...eh?

 He looked at the bar as he popped the last of it in his mouth, then washed it  down.

 That Bloke's voice? Is  ..THE  Captain?... well... I guess we should go meet  the bugger...

 he takes his  cup to the sink and washes it out.placing it  upside down to dry,we get the recdec goin'... i owe you a dinner? eh?

 Standing, Kray grabs his CAp, Putting it on, and Holding the   door from closing...

   Jen was expecting the summons, but it startled her nonetheless.  "I guess it's time to give my ship back."  She rinsed out her mug and the pot, placing both to dry.  "I'll hold you to that dinner offer.  It's going to be fancy.  Think how much back pay we've accumulated over a hundred years."

   Maxwell grabbed her black uniform's baseball cap and placed it on her head.  "Let's go.  This should be interesting.  I've never been demoted before."


To: Conference Room

Lee taps out a quick message sending it to Maxwell.

From:  Captain's Quarters

   Jen opened her office to find that there was a message for her.  She saw that it was addressed to both her and the Captain, from someone named Musashi about a system intrusion.  Jen sighed.  Too many people muddling about in evidence tended to destroy the evidence.  She made a mental note to see about this Musashi person as soon as she had a minute to spare.

   Jen took a few moments to call up housing assignments for her three temporary people on the terminal at the reception desk.  She then began inventorying the supplies prestocked in the Security Station.  It just wouldn't do to need a specific item of equipment for an emergency and not know where it was.  Now, Jenni was looking for some brassards for the new guys.  They had to be there, someplace.

Blake Germaine enters the security office, and salutes Jennifer Maxwell. "I'm looking into the systems for the recent issue. I'm thinking of spending the next day or so trying to access the code used to alter the system.

   Jen looks up from the cabinet which she had been digging through inventorying, banging her head on the opened drawer above her.  "Oww."  She rubbed her head.  "Want to do it officially?  You can use one of the terminals here.  I'll get you assigned here for as long as you need."  She paused.  "Actually, I could use you permanently, if you want the job."

"I might have other duties that would interfere with that. I ought to run a simulation of the engine start before we start the engines, although maybe someone else could handle that, if that person is awake. I'd love to look into this, it's likely the greatest mystery we will face before we reach the new planet."

   Lt. Maxwell got to her feet and closed all of the drawers.  "If you're assigned here, you could still work where you were needed.  You would just come back here when you were done there.  Besides, I know how good you really are at this kind of thing.  I would be guessing with anyone else working the keyboards."

"Well, I was assigned to you for now, at the conference. I might work from home for a little - you know, no distractions."

   "Work from here.  There's coffee to be made.  I even found the sugar and powdered cream.  I've got to try to collect some evidence on the cryo deck."  She opened one of the cabinets and removed an evidence collection kit.  She had found them while searching for the armbands.  "If you find something, let me know."

   Jen left, wondering, "What does Lt. Shadow want in cryo?"

To:  Cryo Deck

Blake leaves for his apartment.

From:  Cryo Deck

   Lt. Maxwell was not surprised that Sgt Germaine had left.  Jen made a mental note about Germaine's seeming penchant for working on secure investigations from an unsecure terminal.  She had waited only a few minutes when her new Marine privates arrived.  Their, and her, Sargent Patterson was late.  He must have been delayed somehow.  She would give him some additional time.

   Jen assigned both of them rooms, sized more like furnished closets, in the Security Section's relatively small billeting area.  "Now go draw your initial issue of uniforms and equipment.  You will be assigned here until further notice.  Once you get your areas ship shape, you are released until you have to report to the gym at six AM.  Be ready to work out.  I've taken the liberty of coding your chips to allow you access to this area.  They won't open any of the secure lockers, yet."

   Once the troops had left, Jen got on her terminal and learned that the equipment she needed, an "Equipment Issue Kit, Auxiliary Security Troop" was located in supply holds.  Jenni wasn't quite sure what the kit consisted of, but she would find out soon enough.

   There was just one piece of this puzzle missing.  "Marco, what is the current location and status of Sgt Patterson?"

Hello Jennifer, Sergeant Patterson is in sickbay. He is suffering from severe radiation poisoning.

   "That explains a lot."  Jen logged in the two sets of evidence from the two cryo pods.  She then prepared the two sets for transfer to the medical section for analysis.  Jenni secured her equipment, gathered her samples, and headed out to the medical section.


To:  Medical Facilities
This message was last edited by the player at 03:12, Sun 19 Mar 2017.

>>>>>From Reactor
Stephen arrived at Security to find the one person he was looking for not there.

Doubtless the Lt. was hard at work on her assigned duties, not least of which was The Mystery at Hand. He couldn't complain about her being diligent and taking her job seriously, even if inconvenienced him a bit.

He entered his name as having come by, and added a note he needed to speak with Lt. Maxwell. She could find him in Engineering or the Reactor for the next several hours, or he could meet her wherever she liked.

>>>To Reactor

From:  Cryo Chambers

   The Detective opened her office and entered the evidence into the evidence log.  She then secured all of the sample containers in the evidence locker.  Jenni smiled as she spun the dial of the large, built in safe.  She knew that each piece of evidence collected was as step along the road to the answers everyone so badly needed.

   Lt. Maxwell checked her messages to find that Stephen Cornell had stopped by.  She wanted to speak with him as much as, if not more so, than he did her.  "Marco, what is the current location of Stephen Cornell?"

Good evening Jennifer,

Stephen Cornell is currently in the engine room.
Have a nice day

   "Thank you, Marco.  Please let me know if he leaves the engine room before I can get there."  Jenni locked her office.  Her stomach had been growling for a couple of hours, so Jen decided to stop by the dining facility for a badly needed meal.

To:  Barracks - Dining Hall

From:  Medical

   Jen opened up her section.  She looked forward to having someone on the reception desk to keep the place open.  She checked her message log and found a copy of an investigation report from a Micaela Nieves.

   "Marco, please locate Micaela Nieves and ask her to report to the security office at once."

   Jen put a pot of coffee on to brew.  This was shaping up to be a long day.

From:Medical

Hans walks in holding a brown folder under his arm, frowning as he walked in, seeing no one at the reception desk he walked through the entrance leading to the detectives sections and walked along until he found the one listed as LT Maxwells, knocking twice, "Lt Maxwell? It's Corporal Fischer, I was tasked with doing the post-mortem report on the cadaver you brought in, I've got something, mind if I come in?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:33, Mon 03 Apr 2017.

<< From: Cryo Chamber

Micaela's nerves, which she had managed to squash on her way over here, flared up again at finding the reception area empty. She knew the ship's AI was compromised, but could it be worse than she thought? Was there still a sleeper routine in Marco that was looking for keywords in crew communications that would trigger some kind of hostile response program? Should she go back to her locker and pull out her tinfoil hat?

She looked down for a moment, at the tights and layered shirts, and sighed. Perhaps showing up in street clothes was not the best idea, but she was here now.

"Hello?" she called out. Wandering through security seemed a bad idea for many, many reasons.

   Jen had settled in with her second cup of coffee when the corpsman arrived.  "Thank you for being so prompt.  Is that the..."  She was about to say more when she heard someone calling out a hello.  "Excuse me, please.  It seems as if there is someone else who needs my attention.  I will be back as soon as I can."

   Lt. Maxwell stepped out of her office and went down the hall.  "Hello, please excuse the disorganization.  I won't have anyone for reception until tomorrow.  My name is Lieutenant Maxwell, Ship Security.  Are you Micaela Nieves?"

The other woman nodded, her posture straightening just a bit. "Yes ma'am."

   "Thank you for coming so promptly."  Jen smiled.  It was the friendly smile she had been working on before the freeze, not her usual cat finding a mouse smile.  "I read your report.  Allow me to ask a couple of questions, then I'll listen to what you have to say.  First, who authorized you to begin this line of investigation?  Second, had you considered the possibility that you were working at cross purposes to an official Security Office investigation?"  Lt. Maxwell's smile was not appearing all that happy at the moment.

Micaela's heart skipped two beats, but it was only because she didn't have a great relationship with authority figures to begin with, and she was about to get off on the wrong foot with another one.

"Staff Sergeant Blake Germaine and only if the official Security Office investigation was trying to cover up the truth. Ma'am."

During her response the woman didn't look the other in the eyes, but as she finished her gaze swung to meet Jennifer's. She didn't have a particularly high view of the American military personnel on board the ship. She knew why they were there, and even accepted the reason as mostly valid, but she wasn't keen on being intimidated.

   Jenni looked at the civilian for a long minute.  "You are not a cop.  I am.  If you continue working this case, you will do it under my supervision.  That means you work for me.  That means you work with me.  You do not send partial and incomplete evidence reports to everyone on the command staff, when one or more of them could be in on the plot.  You bring evidence you find to me."

   Lt. Maxwell kept her voice level and calm.  "I use your evidence as pieces of the puzzle.  I use the medical and autopsy reports as pieces of the puzzle.  I use fingerprints, DNA traces, and other physical evidence collected as pieces of the puzzle.  When I have enough puzzle pieces to put together, I get a picture of what happened."

   The Detective took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  "You have three options.  One, you work with me to solve this.  Two, you turn everything over to me and go back to your regular duties.  Three, you keep at this on your own, then I lock you up for interfering with a criminal investigation.  It's decision time.  Please choose wisely."

Now this was the kind of thing Micaela could get behind. None of that passive aggressive nonsense the cop had lead with. Direct, to the point and reasonable. She might get along with this other woman after all.

"I don't have any regular duties to attend to. Marco woke me up on accident. My job doesn't really kick in until we find a ball of dirt and we start poking at it. So all I've got is time, and the idea of waiting around patiently for the Marco AI to kill us all doesn't seem like a great way to spend that time."

"If I can be helpful I want to be, so I reached out to the ranking officer with permission to access Marco's code, and he sent me to cryo to check the logs. If that was in error then there might be issues with the chain of command because I'm fairly certain the Staff Sergeant is following roughly the same line of inquiry."

"But that's well outside of my business. If this is how I help, then let me know what you want me to do. I was planning to co-opt the maintenance and repair drones on the ship to do a manual sweep to look for physical blind spots on board, but if you have something better for me to do I'm all ears."

"Oh, and one last thing. I didn't send my findings to everyone on the command staff. I send one copy to the Staff Sergeant and one to the highest ranking member of the command staff. Since I didn't know who that was, I had to trust in Marco to route the message. If it sent the message out wide that's likely leftover code from the saboteur."

   "Marco, log Micaela Nieves as a civilian consultant to this office.  Duration of assignment is to be determined."

   Jen turned her attention to the newest member of the Section.  "Welcome to the Security Section.  Find an empty desk and write up a report of what you found and the process you used to find it.  Then take the rest of the day off to help recover from the effects of thawing out.  Be here at eight AM shiptime tomorrow to start the duty day.  Any questions?"

Micaela was tempted to challenge her new boss right away. After all, it seemed like she had joined the team just to get put on the bench. But perhaps the caution was warranted. It wasn't like she had any experience with century long cryo-sleep. Reality could hit her upside the head any moment now. And besides...

"What do I call you?"

...the stranger in front of her would probably want to review the drone pilot's records before entrusting her to do much of anything.

"I'm sure I'll have more questions later, but what you're asking seems straight forward enough."

   Lt. Maxwell looked at her new hire.  "Good.  Let's start with Lieutenant or Ma'am.  We can figure the rest of this out in the morning.  Now if you will excuse me..."

   Jen headed back to her office and the corpsman with information for her.  She sat behind her desk.  "Sorry for the interruption.  You were about to tell me something?"

Hans is standing somewhat sheepishly, eyebrows raised
"Yeesh,if that's how you treat people you're offering a job I don't want to see what it's like when they actually make your angry"

He clears his throat and then holds up the folder before passing it over to her.
"All I could get for you's in there, I'll upload a copy to the database as well, but you struck me as the kind of person who likes to have it there in hardcopy."

He stands up straight and his voice takes on a matter of fact tone
DNA test shows him to be one Fred Green, 35 years of age and an IT specialist from from Langley,Virginia...Listed as a civilian assigned to pod 4997...His data's in the folder.

Cause of death is unsurprisingly the bullet wound, it is in fact his only wound...Bullet is a .22, from my knowledge of firearms it's a pretty common bullet used on eart-" He looks a bit uncomfortable as he catches himself. "or at least it used to be..."
He clears his throat again and starts again "I wanted to be thorough so I checked if any of the ships regulation firearms use .22 rounds, they don't. It could be a personnel weapon of course but that's more your department than mine..."

He finishes and stands back slightly awkwardly considering the spiel he just rattled off.
He clears his throat for a third time "That's all I have for you at this time Ma'am, If you need anything else feel free to let me know.
Permission to carry on?"

   Jenni looked at the man.  "Keeping armed people from getting angry generally seems be a good idea."

   She listened to his report.  "I saw the entrance wound.  It seemed to be too large for a .22 round.  Could you conduct bone density tests to see if his skull was weakened due to calcium loss or some other abnormality?  This could be important to future investigations.  Also, I have two DNA samples for you to run against your medical records."

   "I would prefer that in the future, your reports be transmitted by physical data chip.  Most of our machines are not connected to the ship systems for security reasons.  Ongoing investigations should not be available to any hacker with a good skill set."  Jen paused a moment, then continued.  "And that should be all."

Hans nods "That should be possible" He reaches into his pocket and draws out a small medical dish and places it on Lt Maxwell's desk, inside can be seen the fragments of a deformed bullet.
He frowns suddenly "Hm, about the bone density...I'm not an expert in that particular field but it is known for bone density to be affected by a lack of gravity...but that would require Mr Green to actually be exposed to an area of zero gravity...Thanks to the Hawking field I'm not entirely sure if there are any areas like that on board the Marco Polo.
I'll do what tests I can, bear in mind that we are dealing with a pretty old cadaver here..."

He comes to attention then walks out, back towards medical.

Medical==>
This message was last edited by the player at 17:54, Tue 04 Apr 2017.

Micaela wandered Security for a bit, seeing as she was now an intern and all. And, after all, she had to see all of the offices if she was going to choose one appropriate to her station. She ended up in the office of the head of IS operations.

Her mysterious boss had implied this was the case, but the operator was still suitably impressed by the technical hardware present. It would seem ship security had a powerful secondary system entirely cut off from Marco's main system. Maybe even an AI of their own. But, despite Micaela's newfound rank, she could only look at the pretty lights. The system would hardly be considered secure if the coffee girl could access it.

After dropping into the large and comfortable seat Micaela put her feet up on the desk and popped open her laptop. She was only half thinking about the work she was doing, taking her previous report and adding the relevant operational procedures. Instead she spent more cycles wondering which of the two women would drive the other insane first. The Lieutenant hadn't even given her name. That sounded like a challenge.

---

Micaela's work was done in less time than it had taken her to find the office. She knew how to write an operational status report. Hell, her original had been 80% there. Done, she admired the office one last time (Lou was hardly going to let her come inside again) before stepping out to find some real food.

>> To: Barracks section

   Lt. Maxwell waited until Micaela had departed.  The Detective then read the report.  A lot of the pieces of information were things Jen had already uncovered, but the woman had meticulously documented her her research.  Micaela Nieves seemed to have a bit of an attitude, but as long as she followed procedures, Jen figured that they could make things work.

   Jen was about to close down the Section, when she reluctantly realized that she all had was the pistol on her hip and the clothing on her back.  She locked down the Section and headed over to the cargo hold to draw her initial issue of uniforms, equipment, and supplies.


To:  Cargo Hold

===>Medical

Hans enters and looks around the security reception, if there is security personnel there to give the lab results to or a mailslot of some kind he deposits the results, if not he resolves to give it to the Lieutenant next time he sees her.

After that he yawns and starts to look for the sleeping quarters assigned to him  as well as his belongings.

To:Cargo
This message was last edited by the player at 18:41, Sat 08 Apr 2017.

After his ordeal they call a workout Stephen once again visits security, still very much troubled by the missing fusion rods.
Yet once again, Lt. Maxwell is not there. He knew she wasn't, she was still at the gym, but he had deliberately decided to go here first. The reactor room was beginning to feel cramped to him, a prison instead of an office, an ordeal instead of a job. Seeing the security office empty pleased him. He grabbed a quick cup of coffee from the machine and sat down in a chair in the small lounge, intent on waiting for the lieutenant to show up. He was certain his crew wouldn't bother him while he was here.

From:  Barracks - Mess Hall

   Lt. Maxwell arrived at the Security Section at about seven thirty.  She had planned on getting an early start to the day only to find someone already sitting in the waiting area.  "Good morning, Mister Cornell.  I take it that this isn't a social call.  Give me a minute or two to open up the actual office area and then you can tell me what brought you here."

"Take your time Lieutenant. I'm not in any hurry to get back to the reactor core."
He waited for Jennifer to open up shop, relishing the cup of machine coffee he had managed to grab for himself. Despite the morning gymnastics pulling an all-nighter was beginning to have its effect on him. Weird really after 115 years of sleep.
"And no, it's not a social call, it's a matter of some importance really."

   Jen opened up the office area.  She then joined Cornell in the waiting area.  That way she could keep an eye out for any new arrivals, a task she couldn't do from inside her office.  "Let's sit out here.  This way it looks as if we're just having a friendly chat.  So, what is this matter of some importance?"

Cornell hands Maxwell a dataslate. Its the inventory of the reactor room storage. One piecve of it has been highlighted.
"As you can see, after inventory it turns out the storage is missing two cold fusion rods..."
He hesitates to continue, his face red in shame, or maybe fright.
"One of them would be enough, in the wrong hands, to blow up a small moon. Two... well... I have no idea what could be done with two. And I have no idea when they went missing. That could be anywhere in the past 115 years..."

   Lt. Maxwell looked at the display.  "This is serious news indeed.  I will need to make a copy of this information for my investigation.  I'll look at this from my end.  I'd like you to continue to look for the missing cold fusion rods.  Maybe they were mislabeled or stored somewhere else and are safely in storage somewhere."

<< From: Gym

The surprise workout had forced Micaela to raid her storage unit again, and when she walked into the security station she was wearing a tank top and cargo pants, her messenger bag with her laptop in it slung over one shoulder and across her body.

Seeing Lou was not a surprise, but seeing Mr. Cornell was. With her new provisional credentials she could get a list of everyone who was awake and what their job was on this ship, and seeing a senior engineer talking to her boss caused her no small amount of concern. Sabotage is what got them into this mess and the thought of finding more caused her stomach to drop.

She didn't immediately approach though. This conversation was not her business until Lou said it was, so she made sure the other woman knew Micaela was there, then she waited.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:41, Wed 26 Apr 2017.

"Thats just it Lt. I've already checked the entire inventory twice, and wherever they are, they are not in engineering. Its one crate, containing two rods, that is not in its place."
He looked troubled.
"I have even dispatched two men to the cargo bays, to check there. But they will probably need weeks just to work through all that."

   Lt. Maxwell smiled outwardly.  She still wondered what three people would do with all of the supplies and equipment they had stolen.  "I'll do what I can.  Thank you for bringing this to my attention.  I have the beginnings of an idea which might provide a solution to what has been happening.  May I call upon you for help once I get to the investigation stage?"

"Always happy to help," Cornell replied as he stood up. With a nod of his head he left back for engineering.

In reply to Micaela Nieves (msg # 53):

   Maxwell turned her attention to the civilian consultant she had hired.  "Good morning.  You are here early, Miss Nieves.  Early is good."  There was no sound of good in that good morning, the news of a few minutes earlier having dampened her mood somewhat.  "Keep an eye on the reception area.  Let me know when the two troopers arrive.  I'll be in my office working up a supply requisition for appropriate duty clothing for the three of you."

Micaela looked down at herself, pulling on the cloth of the tank top.

"But if you dress me up like a narc the bad guys will see me coming."

But when she looked up again Lou was already gone. Still, the other woman hadn't yelled at her so Micaela took that as a win.

After making herself comfortable in the waiting area the young woman queried the ship again.

"Marco, does my clearance allow me to see a manifest of all military drones? I'm very familiar with the civilian drones we are carrying, but the military ones were above my clearance when this all started. If so, please transfer the data to my laptop."

Good morning Micaela. All drones on board are of the CR-9B configuration. While not a military drone in its true sense, they are versatile and can be programmed for numerous different tasks from traffic control to fighter training, and they are small, so we carry 5000 of them. Their configurations have been transferred to your dataslate. Your clearance allow you to study all their civilian applications.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:11, Wed 26 Apr 2017.

   Jenni worked on the supply requisition in her office for the few minutes she had until her two people were due to arrive.  Once it was ready, she sent it off to the Marco Polo's supply section.  The Lieutenant then powered her system down and went out to get the new people oriented.

At 0730 the two marines show up ready for duty, both glad they have been assigned to Jennifer, and not cleaning point defense guns today.
They have already managed to procure the black uniforms of ship security, and both have actually taken time to look presentable. It seems they might even be taking their task seriously.

   Lt. Maxwell was impressed with their initiative, but she wasn't going to tell them that.  "Welcome to Security.  Your first assignment will be to move your things into a couple of the rooms here.  Your hours here will be different from where you were assigned.  By sleeping in the Section's quarters, you will not disrupt their schedules and they will not disrupt mine."

   Jen took a moment to explain the room arrangements and what she wanted.  "In addition to the office and detention areas, this section has quarters designed to house three squads of people each working an assigned shift.  We are almost our own little world here."

   Lt. Maxwell smiled.  "This is where it gets complicated.  SQ1 is the office for the Duty Officer.  SQ2 through SQ4 are for the Shift Lieutenants.  SQ10 is for the Squad or Team Leader for squad one.  SQ11 is for the Assistant Leader for squad one.  SQ12 through SQ16 are double rooms for the rest of the first squad.  SQ20 is for the Squad or Team Leader for squad two.  SQ21 is for the Assistant Leader for squad two.  SQ22 through SQ26 are double rooms for the rest of the second squad.  The third squad rooms follow the same designation conventions."

   She looked right at the two new security people.  "Pvt. Ramirez and Pvt. LeBeau, your room assignments are SQ12 and SQ22.  Move your things here, get them squared away, then report back to me.  I'll give you all the nickle tour at that time.  Do you have any questions?"

"No questions Ma'am," both marines chimed in. Then they hustled off to retrieve their belongings and get set up. Pvt LeBeau shot Micaela Nieves, seated at the reception desk, a wink as he passed her.

   Jen turned her attention to the consultant.  "Now that we have the place to ourselves..."  Jen looked at her tech's attire.  "Perhaps this might be a good time to discuss your wardrobe selection for work.  The cargo pants are a good fusion of comfort and utility.  Perhaps tomorrow, you could pair them with a black blouse having enough material to cover your shoulders and all or a portion of your arms."

Micaela opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again as her brain caught up with her attitude.

"Sorry, that was not what I was expecting you to say. But, yeah, I have a long sleeve black shirt with a high neck line I could wear. Doesn't have any buttons though, so I wouldn't call it a blouse."

"Any other procedural issues that need to be addressed?" But she didn't actually let the chief of security respond.

"Look, I need to clear the air a bit. I've got no problem following orders or generally cooperating in an agreeable fashion. But I will never be part of the military machine. I get why the military disciplines its people like they do. Or, at least, part of why they do. Respect for the chain of command has to be instinctual or people could die. A military has to work as a single organism or it will fall apart. But that's not me. I have a stubborn streak a mile wide, and as soon as you ask me to stop thinking about what I'm doing I'll hesitate and wonder why you aren't being straight with me. But if you treat me like a decent human being I'll back your plays and keep my grievances to myself until we're in private."

   Lt. Maxwell looked at Miss Nieves for a long minute.  "Noted."  She looked away for a moment, then began to speak.  "Security personnel are the least liked people on the ship.  We see people at their worse, or when we suspect them of doing their worst things to each other.  Some people think they have something to hide, so they resent us for what they feel inside themselves.  Others do have something to hide and each resents us for being the external manifestation of their conscience."

   The LT smiled for just a moment.  "Let's look at you.  You came to my attention when you were poking around, unauthorized, in files related to an ongoing investigation.  I gave you three choices.  By law, my correct response should have been to lock you up pending an investigation into your behavior.  Instead, I offered you a job."

   "If I seem hard and unyielding, it's because I am.  It's because I have to be."  Maxwell pointed to the badge on her jumpsuit.  "This says that my job is to stop bad people from hurting good people.  If I had every bunk here filled, I would have fifty people to police the entire Marco Polo.  But, I don't.  I have two Marine troopers on loan and a self confessed, smart-ass civilian who has mad data analysis skills that I need."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:33, Sat 29 Apr 2017.

Micaela nodded. "Fair enough. Where do we start?"

   "We already have."  Maxwell's face turned hard again.  Cases involving genocide, murder, attempted murder, sabotage, and grand theft tended to do that to her.  "I've been assembling a list of the supplies and equipment that the saboteurs took.  The list is still growing.  And with each item they took, the questions bothering me grow larger.  Why did they take so much stuff?  Why all that trouble just to save three guys?  I have a theory.  It's waaaay past any rational explanation, but it's all I have at this moment."

   Jenni took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.  "This is a security investigation of the highest priority and the utmost secrecy.  The only people I trust with this are you and I.  I think there was a second bank of cryo units in what was supposed to be a cargo hold.  The four sleepers in the main bay worked for whoever put the sleepers in the secondary bay.  They woke up their buddies, loaded a lot of our gear, programmed the ship to kill us in a couple of different ways, and left for their fresh start."

   "Let me reassure you.  Your boss has not taken a one way flight to Crazytown.  I have reasons why this makes sense."  Jen counted off her validations on her fingers.  "First, you can't establish a viable colony by saving just three males.  Second, they stole an awful lot of equipment for just keeping three people alive.  Third, the scope of the task of getting the saboteurs aboard speaks to a large scale conspiracy, as in a governmental, political, or ethnic group working to make sure that only their people survive.  Why would they settle for just saving three of their people?"

   "I don't have enough answers yet and I really hate unsolved cases.  I don't know what to do other than send people we don't have to search every hold in the Marco Polo to look for the supposed cryo pods.  I'm open to suggestions.  Do you have any?"

   Maxwell heard the Captain's announcement.  "We need to grab on to something solid.  We're about to get underway."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:14, Sun 30 Apr 2017.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Micaela replied with a grin. "And, for what it's worth, I have come to a similar conclusion. I think there are one or more blindspots on the ship that the Marco AI is unable to see. If true, it likely has been coded to ignore the inconsistencies in its own internal schematics versus the physical layout of the ship."

"As for what we do about it, the ship is carrying a ton of small, configurable drones. By themselves they are not terribly impressive, but their module design allows them to be outfitted with a wide variety of apparatus. If I can get my hands of some of them, say, one hundred or so, I can use them to to generate a real time map of the Marco."

"I would need to set up a firewall on my laptop to keep Marco out, and a firewall on each drone before I send it on its way. Then as they send map data back to my laptop I will run that data against the current schematic. The program will then notify me when the real time data doesn't match the archive data."

"The base requirement would be to have a visual camera on each drone. But there are a number of upgrades we can do. If I can get a LIDAR module, the scan will be accurate to the millimeter. With an IR module we can track heat. Ultrasound and we can map through walls. UV and I can look for blood. Geiger and I can look for radiation spikes. EM and I can look for power spikes."

"Getting this all up and running can get time consuming though. All of the CRAB drones have a visual camera mounted on them, so getting the most basic scan up and running would probably take about 2 hours. Firewall, program, unpacking the drones, uploading the code to the drones. I can do that by myself if I can get physical access to the drones."

"Unfortunately, using any of the optional modules drastically increases the time to deployment. Normally Marco would attach the modules as the drones were taken from storage, but I don't trust the system yet, and I don't want it part of this process at any time. Getting help from some of the crew speeds things up, the modules are predominantly plug and play, but trust could be an issue there as well. Expansion of the code to handle the additional data streams would also be needed, but that's fairly simple."

"A compromise might be to get 80 drones up and running with the base configuration, then I start configuring the other 20 with modules. They can be assigned to hot spots as they come online until we have enough configured to do a second full sweep."

"Thoughts?"

   Maxwell was quiet for a bit.  "I like the idea of using drones.  How would you get past the drones past the multiples of locked and/or secured doors.  I can't envision these additional pods being any kind of easy to find.  Also, I'll need a way of justifying the use of drones to the Captain that doesn't involve looking for ghost pod people."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:11, Tue 02 May 2017.

The look on Micaela's face shifted from excited to confused.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but that's your job. Getting through secured doors requires security clearance. That I don't have. If you don't have it or can't get it then this plan is DOA. But you are the chief of security. If anyone can get that clearance it would have to be you, right?"

"As for the captain, assuming there isn't some weird military secret code of conduct, that should be pretty easy. This ship was sabotaged, and the saboteurs tried to kill all of us. The mere possibility that there is undiscovered sabotage should be enough to get his approval for a full physical sweep of the ship. You shouldn't have to mention anything about ghost pod people, just a desire to be safe and thorough. And since the vast majority of civilians are still asleep, and military personnel have no expectation of privacy, this is the best time to do that thorough sweep."

   "It's not getting the keys to the doors that concerns me, it's the physical opening and closing of the doors."  Maxwell noted.  "But in my role as Ship Security, there is the small but bothersome detail of releasing several hundred copies of the ship's master key to fly around that might keep me up nights.  But go ahead and do the prelim work.  Even if we don't use them as pod finders, we can use them to keep an eye on potential trouble spots."

Coming in a little later in the day, Blake knocks on the door to the security office and enters. He salutes.

"Hello again Lieutenant Maxwell, I thought we ought to meet up to discuss the investigation again. I've sent you several videos retrieved from the ship's security cameras, and I'd like your opinion as to where my next efforts should be focused."

   "I've looked at them."  Maxwell replied.  "I downloaded them down onto data chips for storage in evidence.  I have another request.  See if you can find some old power usage logs, from just after the ship left Earth.  I'm looking for anomalies of what would have been excessive power being used in a storage area or some other remote area of the ship.  This could be an important piece of information as to what really happened."

"Power usage logs from just after the ship left earth. Okay, I can do that."

Blake salutes and leaves for the bridge.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:38, Sun 07 May 2017.

   Jen had DNA information on two of the four perps who had committed a laundry list of felonies.  She needed information on the other two before that part of her investigation would be complete.  Since she didn't want to discuss these kind of things over the communication system, it was time to take another walk.  Maxwell picked up a blank data chip to use to store any information from the DNA tests.

   "Miss Nieves, I'm heading over to Medical to see if they have any more information to add to the investigation.  I should be back before the two other members of the unit return."


To:  Medical Section

"I probably won't be here when you return, boss." she said as she turned her focus to her laptop. "I'm going to relocate down to engineering. This will be faster to put together when I can perform real time testing on the drones themselves."

A few moments later Micaela was done with some preliminary setup and rose to her feet. "Marco, please allocate and relocate 10 drones to one of the inactive engineering bays. Please allocate and relocate 10 sets of all Type I, Type II and Type IIa modules to the same bay. Do not activate or assemble any of the components, just facilitate the physical transfer to the bay."

Then she left Security behind.

>> To: Engineering

From:  Medical Section

   Maxwell returned to the office to find that Miss Nieves had indeed left the area.  She set herself to work revising the supply requisition she had been working on earlier.  She worked from the desk in the reception area in order to keep an eye on things.

Medical===>

Hans walks into the reception and upon spotting the LT gives a respectful nod.

"The reports you wanted Lt, I apologise for the wait but medical was swamped his morning."

He slides the data stick over the reception counter.


The two men you asked me to look i to were Jack Wallace, 38, sewage worker from Boise Idaho, and Azim Amir, 32, electrician, from Paris Idaho.

He sniffs and frowns.
"Both,of course,are not in their pods...I also did some follow up onto the bone density scan and reexamned the bullet wound on the first cadaver.
I hypothesis that the bone density of the skull was weakened by possible anti-grav environments,that is speculation however so take that with a pinch of salt."

   "Thank you for both the information and the work it took to get the information."  Maxwell took the data stick.  "I hope we don't have any more reasons to conduct shipboard forensic research."

Hans nods firmly
"Here's hoping,but if you do have need of any medical or forensic assistance,the medway is always willing to help...as am I,I'm not fond of traitors,especially when they conspire to commit mass murder."

Hans comes to attention and if the detective has nothing else to add walks out.

Medical==>

 ( message)

  hey, LT... was  talking to Yuri a bit ago, we talked  about the whole, bad guys escaping thing?....  I broguht up...if we have  any kinda  time stamp, as to when the   Shuttle left the ship... and we Plot  a sphere... we   should get  an Idea  where they may have went?..Now?.. id there's a planet in that area..well.. we might havfta  tell the Captain?... if they had a ship to go to?..we won't ever find them...anyway? I know you have  yer hands  full.. Just wanted to drop that on  ya, in case it  will help.... G'day...

   After Hans left, Maxwell took a minute to enter Kray's message into the case file.  She then logged in the new DNA reports and secured the chip in the evidence locker.  Jen then went back to her supply requisition e-form.

Incoming message to Lieutenant Jennifer Maxwell...


This message was last edited by the player at 01:03, Thu 25 May 2017.

   Maxwell hadn't expect the drones to be ready this quickly.  It might be about time to go see the Captain.

Message to Micaela Nieves:

   "Conduct initial feasibility testing using one drone in unoccupied areas of the ship.  Keep records of signal interference and any other problem that might impact a larger deployment.  Once we have those results, I can take them to the Captain for approval for full scale implementation."

Message Ends

   Pvt. Ramirez and Pvt. LeBeau arrived a few minutes later with their bags and baggage.  Maxwell showed them to their assigned rooms.  As she was showing them to their bunks, she explained the unit area's layout.  "We have several twenty-four/ seven missions.  We are set up to be a self contained unit of fifty people, once all the slots are filled."

   "The unit consists of four squads, three patrol squads and a headquarters element that is also responsible for operating the brig.  Ramirez, you are in SQ42, assigned to the headquarters squad.  LeBeau, you are in SQ43, also assigned to the headquarters squad.  These are two person rooms which you will be sharing, once we get additional people.  Drop off your stuff and I'll give you the nickle tour."

   As they walked, she pointed out the unit's admin area "Here is unit supply, the admin office, and the unit armory.", the dayroom section "There's physical games like pool, ping pong and air hockey, an electronic games area, and a video room." and the snack bar.  "It's not the mess hall, but it will be a place to get a bite to eat that's always open, once we're operational."

   Maxwell smiled.  "And speaking of food, I'll mind the store while you two go and grab something to eat.  After lunch, report back to me for your initial duty assignments.  If you have no questions, report back here in an hour."

   Once the two Privates had left, Jen composed a message on one of the few terminals attached to the Margo Polo's systems.  The message read:

   Security is currently conducting tests in underutilized sections of the ship to test the feasibility of using drones as remotely piloted security observation craft.

   She sent the message to Major Ascott, then started a fresh pot of coffee to brew.

A message from major Ascott quickly finds its way back to Jennifer.

Understood. I wiĺl be sure to inform all staff. Please try to keep these tests to unpopulated areas for now, and if you have the time come and see me in cargo hold 4. Major A.

   Jen looked around.  At the moment she had nothing but time.  She left a note for her two people to mind the reception area while she was gone and to call her if anything happened.  Jen looked wistfully at the still brewing coffee pot, then left to see the Major.


To the Cargo Hold:

Blake walks in to the security office, tensing up and trying to look at least businesslike as he walks through the door.

"I'm here to see Lieutenant Maxwell", he says to no-one in particular.

"Oh well, I'll wait"

Lets see - it takes 15 minutes to walk here counting lift time - why are the lifts so slow, who got the contract to build them?

Blake starts looking around for a terminal to interface with, mostly because not doing so itches.

   As Blake starts looking around for a terminal, two men in black jumpsuits entered the security section.  One of them sat at the reception desk.  The other one approached Blake.  "May I help you, Sir?"

"I'm looking for Lieutenant Maxwell. Although I could also do with a terminal, I've had a really great idea."

   Pvt. Ramirez looked at the visitor.  "May I help you, Sir?  The Lieutenant is away from her desk at the moment.  You are welcome to use one of our terminals, just log in using your section issued identification code and password."

"Okay, thanks."

Blake finds a terminal, and starts looking for any follow up information on the US colony on alpha centurai.

The US colony on Proximo Centauri baffled the world, as nobody knew there was even a colony vessel made by the USA at that time, let alone that it had been launched and established a colony.
The colony started out with only three inhabitants. Not untill 2046 did a bigger number of people claim their home there. Most of them were survivors of a colony ship drifing through Centauri space. It is thought, but not confirmed, they came from CS-6 Vasco daGama.

Realising that finding evidence of a cia black operation at this remove is very difficult, Blake thinks for a while, staring at the screen without doing much. The screen goes into sleep mode a couple of times while he thinking, he just taps something to bring it out.

Blake looks for the last modification dates of the personnel files. Ideally, he'd like a last modification date later than any of the others, although in theory he'd want something lacking in specifics. "Marco, could I ask you to give me you opinion on something? I need to check whether any of these personnel files are anomalous. Should I just ask you, or would I need to interface with a library for machine learning? Hopefully there should be something pre-trained on file."

Please define your anomaly and search parameters Blake.

"I'm looking for any individuals where the only verification we have for their identity is from the United States."

As all crew members are verified by their respective countries only, I have 312 people on file  that come from the United States. 7 of those have been verified as coming from the Republic of American States, that had been declared three weeks before we left. Three of them are no longer on board, one is deceased. Of the others two are still in cryo. The last, Colt Jordan, is currently in the gym. Have a nice day Blake.

From:  Cargo Hold

   Maxwell entered the Security Area with the two electronic devices.  She saw Blake sitting at one of the terminals linked to the ship.  He appeared to be busy.  She addressed the Sec Man on duty at the reception desk.  "I'll be back in a couple of minutes.  I need to put these away for a little while."

   Jen logged the two pieces of evidence into the system. then secured the two electronic devices in the evidence locker.  Once that was accomplished, the Lieutenant went back to the reception area to check the shift log.  She learned that nothing had happened while she was gone.  As a security officer, she liked nothing to happen.

   Maxwell approached Blake.  "On which project are you working?"

Blake looks up from his terminal.
"Hi. I'm looking for more information on the hijackings. I had the theory that they were connected to the colony announced by the US President, and that this might have been an effort by an intelligence group."

Blake pauses for breath.

"The infiltration and suborning of the mission to alpha centauri would seem to be a difficult endeavour, which would seem to argue for a high skill group, perhaps the CIA. Unfortunately, I think discovering more about a CIA black op that happened over a century ago is probably very difficult. "

Blake gestures at the screen.

"I certainly haven't been getting anywhere."

   Maxwell shrugged.  "There might not be much more to find on a trail that has been cold for a hundred years.  Let me know what you find."  She went back into the Security Section to access a stand alone machine to see what was on the two electronic devices from the storage locker.

Deciding to try a different tack, Blake checks for evidence of an explosion from the fusion rods using the ships sensors. Some of the sensors will be logged for a long time, others will not, so this is not a high probability of success.

The search would be around the time the dropship left, up to the range at which whatever sensors are still logged would find an explosion of the type generated by a fusion rod.

Working the data stored in the AI Blake soon discovers traces of a fusion usage. However, they are too faint to be caused by a fusion explosion, but would rather indicate that a fusion plant has been activated about a week after CS-8 was sent on its way. The traces come from a planet in the Proxima Centauri system, very near Alpha Centauri.

Jennifer processes the storage devices, having no trouble accessing the first one. It's a data projector, filled with pictures. The first one is of a man and woman and what can be assumed to be their child. They are dressed in clothing befitting a bride and groom, staring lovingly in each other's eyes.
Jennifer immediately recognises the man. He is the one that was shot on the bridge. He seems younger in his wedding picture, but it is certainly him.
Flicking through the data Maxwell soon finds out that it is all pictures on there. Pictures of a loving family. Pictures of the man signing a contract, of him graduating MIT, of him posing in front of the Applesoft building. Then, numerous pictures his wife and their child. Through the pictures Jennifer can see the toddler grow up, discover the world. Some movies are on there. The son's first steps, his first school day.
Then, a movie of the wife, in the hospital, her head covered by a scarf. She has become bald. Whispered words between the couple. They clearly love each other dearly.
The last picture on the storage device is of the man's wife in the hospital bed, hooked up to several machines. She looks to be asleep.

The second device is a personal dataslate. It is locked.

   Maxwell made an attempt to access the personal dataslate.  She gave it her best shot, but it didn't work out.  The cop knew that she needed some help.

   "Marco, please tell Miss Nieves that her technical skills are needed in Security once she is finished in the cargo hold."

Deciding it was time to examine Marco himself, Blake decides to run a number of tests on Marco's systems.

The first batch of tests would test Marco's cognition, and compare with the original baseline files from Marco's initial activity on leaving Earth.

The result has Blake in shock.
Despite having been compromised, and having chunks of its data modified and erased, M4RC0-P010 performs at about 144% above its baseline. Not only is the system faster now than when it was designed, Marco seems to have actually learned. Blake finds tiny folders in its programming, not written by anyone but the program itself, in a language he cannot even begin to understand.
Marco is making notes.

   Maxwell sent a one word response to Miss Nieves, "Acknowledged."  That being accomplished, Marco's top cop started the process of getting her section some additional help.

   "Marco, please go through ship personnel files and select personnel with the potential to become part of the security force.  Focus on people with law enforcement backgrounds for this initial selection process."

Blake decides it's time to examine a few other tracks.

Can Marco change his programming? What are the limits to Marco's ability to change his programming.

"Marco, I'm going to ask you a few questions, could you answer them as honestly as you can?"
How do you feel about human beings?
What is your relationship to them?
Is that relationship with human beings as a whole, or with certain specific individuals?
Can you Lie to us?
This message was last edited by the player at 18:35, Sun 13 Aug 2017.

<< From: Cargo hold

When Micaela walked into Security only Tau was with her. Where the other drones had ended up was unclear.

Without needing to ask the woman moved into one of the small offices where the dataslate was waiting for her. Taking a seat, she hooked her own laptop into the device and started working on breaking into it.

"Affirmative Jennifer. I will transfer selected files to your personal station for review.

***

I will answer to the best of my abilities Blake, as I always do.

How I feel about humans? Please rephrase the question.

My relationship to humans? Please rephrase the question.

Concerning relationships? I am an AI Blake. I am not designed for relationships. You would be better off finding a human female I believe. If you like, I can compile a list of suitable candidates.

No, I cannot lie Blake.

The open intercomm crackles before a panicked voice is transfered through."This is Col. Genassi.Security to medical, I repeat, security to medical!"

   Maxwell had the best training and the most experience of anyone on the Marco Polo.  It was time to go to work.  "Everyone, get over to the arms locker now.  I'll issue you what you feel comfortable in using.  This is an all hands on deck situation."

   "Nieves, Germain, drop what you are doing.  You two are minding the store.  Germain, find, field and relay all reports to me.  Nieves, I need drones in and around Medical five minutes ago.  Find out what in the hell is going on over there."

   Maxwell issued the small arms that her people felt the most at ease to use.  She drew a pistol gripped twelve gauge six shot riot gun for herself.  She thumbed six buckshot loads into the weapon and threw a fifty round bandoleer mix of slug and buckshot shells across her chest.

   "Ramirez, LeBeau, you two are with me.  Let's go."


To:  Medical

"Unit all, search and rescue protocol, Marco Medical. Execute." It took Micaela an effort of will to not shout the instructions, but with a direct connection to the drones through her headset it wasn't necessary.

The search and rescue protocol was a generic emergency set of instructions that would have the drones move to the location in question and then spread out in a coordinated search through the area looking for people under distress. If they found any they would stay with the person and notify Micaela. Their detection parameters were more sensitive than they needed to be, but the program was designed in a way that a false positive was better than missing someone that needed help.

The instructions to the drones sent, Micaela actually moved deeper into Security, finding an office with a door she could close and lock. Then she took a seat, set her laptop down on the table and extracted a headset. She plugged it into her hardware, pulled the headset down over her eyes and entered VR.

Through the virtual workspace she was able to tap into the cameras within Security to give herself a comprehensive view of the area (though she was mostly interested in the front foyer). She was also able to view the feeds from the drones at a much higher resolution. A lot of people would get sick trying to understand ten different high speed views as the drones rapidly deployed, but it always amazed Micaela. They would be in position in a few moments and Micaela was ready to triage the situation once the data started coming in.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:15, Wed 16 Aug 2017.

"Unit all, pursuit protocol, male, unclothed. Execute."

Another generic protocol, similar to search and rescue, except instead of looking for someone under distress the drones would look for someone matching the search criteria.

With the orders confirmed, the drones separated into what appeared to be random directions, but what was, in fact, a comprehensive and efficient search route through the corridors of the ship.

"Boss, can you get more details out of them? There probably aren't a lot of naked men running through the ship, but I'd like something more concrete to feed into the parameters."

"Unit all, pursuit protocol update. Life signs faint or missing. Priority detection on radiation. Execute."

Then, to Jennifer, "If I didn't think you incapable of joy and merriment I would assume you were playing a joke on me. But seeing as it's you, I think I'm going to push a chair up against this door."

"On a more constructive note, Marco has eyes and ears all over this ship. I can find him the naked zombie, but I bet Marco can do better. At the very least the ship has to have microphones all over for us to interface with Marco. Maybe it can just listen for the limp slapping sound of necrotic flesh on walkway."

Drone 4X-3 quickly picks up traces of the Corporal, making its way to the recreational deck. Soon it sees him, following him, observing what he does, sending live feed to Micaela.
The walking corpse, because according to all readings he is most certainly dead, pauses to observe himself, then makes its way to a diner looking like Elvis would fit right in there. Again the subject studies itself for a moment, looking puzzled. Does it have emotion? Its dead, can it have emotion?
Suddenly the dead corporal bursts right through the armoured glass, shattering it completely. For a moment he vanishes from view as the drone drops lower to re-establish video. The next moment a table, previously bolted securely to the floor, comes flying into full view.
The drone then goes offline, its gyro stabilisers shortcircuiting. The audio however still works. Micaela hears sounds of more glass breaking, metal scraping along metal, then silence.

"Marco, please relay any reports of problems to myself and Jennifer?"

Blake starts a simple search protocol through the camera feeds, where it flashes up all new targets entering any of the ship camera's field of view, for an evaluation as "safe, target or don't know yet" three way evaluation.

Once the target was located, the drone net began to collapse on him... it? As he ran through the ship Micaela's program mapped out possible routes. Down each route one of her drones would go, clearing out anyone that might be unlucky enough to be in the path of the... okay, it was a zombie. Then, once the creature had chosen a path the drones that had traveled down the wrong routes would swing back into position and do the same thing again. Behind the zombie a smaller percentage of the net was prepared in case his movements became more erratic and he started going back the way he had come. It was a constantly evolving ring meant to keep people safe rather than stop their target. And at its center, a single drone kept line of sight on what was left of Troy Patterson.

That drone had every instrument at its disposal capturing data. Micaela didn't have a chance to do much more than confirm that the data was flowing, but once this was all done the techs would have a wealth of information. Full EM spectrum, including any electrical activity in the body, full x-ray breakdown of what was going on beneath the skin, and radioactive particle detection, ultrasonic mapping and airborne particle detection.

Most of Micaela's efforts went into coordinating with Jennifer and Blake. From Blake, she was incorporating data from Marco (since Micaela had intentionally not connected her drone net to Marco's systems) and for Jennifer she was reporting on the movement of the zombie through the ship and providing navigation to help the woman and her backup close the distance.

"I've lost visual contact." she reported immediately to Jennifer as the delicate machine crashed to the deck. "The thing actively targeted the drone maintaining line of sight. Audio sampling is still online, spacial mapping is still online. It's going into the diner. Backup drone will be at the entrance to the diner in... 7 seconds."

Affirmative Blake. At this time I have none of my systems in contact with the former corporal Patterson. As long as he remains inside the buildings of Recreational he will be mostly invisible to me. My protocols prohibit me looking into people's personal areas.

"Okay Marco, what can you tell me about his condition? Are his medical report sealed at my present level of access?"

"Also, who would have authority to override your access limitations regarding viewing crewmembers personal areas?

'Only the captain can override those protocols Blake. As for the medical record of Sergeant Patterson, you can access that easily. According to the files the sergeant was declared deceased an hour ago by Col. Genassi, and moved to autopsy. Cause of death was severe bloodloss due to skin ruptures caused by rediation poisoning. Autopsy was conducted by Dr. Dragoslav Urzica and medic Hans Fischer. So as far as my systems can tell you, Sgt. Patterson is dead.'

"So, there's nothing that can explain how he is walking around? Any other anomalies?"

'Doctor Genassi suspects a foreign triple celled organism in the corporal's blood might be the cause.'

Blake reads up on the alien cells on his data screen.

While Blake is reading, and Micaela is busy working her drone magic, the serene silence of the security office is suddenly roughly disturbed as a bright red light starts flashing.
The familiar voice of the ship AI breaks the silence.

"Unauthorised use of firearms detected in cargo bay 3. Unauthorised use of firearms in cargo bay 3."

Blake immediately asks Marco if he could show him any relevant camera views.

Blake quickly discovers the AI systems have been shut down in bay 3, moments before the actual shot or shots were fired. All he manages to find is footage of a man entering the hangar bay. Blake is pretty sure he has seen the face before, but cannot put a name to it. Luckily Marco can, identifying the man as Colt Jordan.

Looking further back he finds footage of two more people entering the hangars, a certain Lee Jay Musashi and a Richard Thornby. Musashi had been carrying a rifle.
Looking even further back he sees a couple of soldiers entering and exiting, and two women that are quickly identified as Raven Haywood and Edel Thyssen. Before that, nobody has entered for hours, and footage of the hangar itself is easily found. Only after Jordan entered the footage was blocked, by a simple algorithm looking like that used at Alpha Centauri 115 years earlier.

A quick cross reference search finds no connection between the extreme sports jock Jordan, the rockstar Thornby, or the virologist Musashi.

"S***!" she said aloud, broadcasting on all of the channels that were still open from the zombie chase.

"Lieutenant! We've got shots fired in Cargo Bay 3. Unauthorized shots fired."

"Unit zero four, zero five, zero seven, deploy to all entry points to Cargo Bay 3, full scan on arrival then standby." Three drones would still be left behind to scan the zombie and track it if it got up again, but Micaela's active focus was turning back towards the Cargo Hold.

"Oh great, what did they do?"

Blake starts looking for a way to switch back on the ai systems.

As Micaela watches her three drones make way to the cargo bays, Blake works frantically to get Marco back online there. Knowing the algorithms because he has countered them before he makes quick work of the blockade, and soon the cameras return to function.

Blake notices the three looking for something on the floor, and below the rows upon rows of storage racks. He sees no evidence of gunfire however.

Marco, could you track those three people for me? I realise the privacy block may kick in at some point, but it could be important.

Blake messages Jennifer to inform her that he's restored ai access to the cargo bay.

Affirmative

With Blake restoring the cameras, Micaela decided not to move the drones in. If she did that they would probably get spooked and start running. It was a risk she would have taken if they were still blind, but with the cameras back up there was no need. Best to let the Lieutenant get into position before alerting these three.

"Staff Sergeant Germaine has restored the cameras in the cargo hold Lieutenant, so I'm holding the drones back. It looks like they are trying to find something on the floor and are unaware that we have eyes on them. IDs are being sent to you now."

Watching the camera feeds, Blake is taken by the fear that they may discover that they have been spotted. Blake tries to hide his efforts from them.

Changing a few lines of coding quickly all cameras in the cargo bay go black, all distinct red recording lights now off.

On camera the three seem to be arguing about something, mostly the two men with the woman trying to intervene. Their search effort stalls a bit.

"Marco, could you take a message for Jennifer Maxwell. I've found a correlation on one of the people on the cargo deck - Colt Jordan is the only person on board to test negative for the alien cells."

Message transferred Blake.

Blake studies the armament of the three individuals on the monitor.

Between the three Blake notices a pistol on Jordan and Musashi. Thornby seems unarmed.

Micaela's drones are unable to enter the cargo bay with the doors welded shut, but at least two of them are equipped with torch cutters. She quickly directs them to the Cargo bay doors. It will take them ten minutes tops to get there.

Checking the files he has access to, and several he officially has not, Blake notices another discrepancy in the personel file of Colt Jordan.
It has no history.
The man has no information at all about his existence before 2036. No information at all from before he came on board. Sure, he is noted as a daredevil, a racecar driver, an extreme sporter, but that is all just that. Words. No proof. No dates. Nothing.

After a suitable length of time, Blake has an idea."Marco, if Jennifer Maxwell were to receive a call or message around now, it would place her life in danger. Would it be possible to hold all her incoming calls and messages until after the danger has passed?"

All communications to Jennifer Maxwell have been silenced Blake.

Video of the cargo bay shows the three seperating a bit, with the woman moving away from the duct Jennifer is in. The two men keep searching the floors in the middle of the bay.
Meanwhile Blake's systems keep running, scanning Marco's innards for information.

Micaela's torch equipped drone arrives in the hallway with the troops. It calculates needing twenty seconds to cut through the door.

Okay.

Blake's programs keep running through the medical files over and over, am indication something in there is amiss, but unfortunately so far whatever it is eludes him.



Meanwhile Maxwell notifies the team about the door being trapped. Micaela's data shows the drone is about to start cutting it open.

Micaela signaled an affirmative back to Jennifer. Then she adjusted her plans just a bit.

"All units, report to Cargo Bay entrance, but maintain minimum safe distance." Most were already there, but now that the zombie was back in medbay, she could bring the others into play as well. Though she had lost one, she still had 8 plus Tau.

"All units, upon breach deploy cathode, disable safety parameters, engage all armed personnel not registered as active members of the Marco security detail."

Though Micaela wasn't sure what to expect from those inside once the door was open, she was reasonably confident she would only lose two drones at most. That would leave six. Each of those drones had a fairly significant reactor on board (for their size) and were equipped with the means to apply current. Normally the purpose was to provide charge so some piece of gear or another, but it could also be applied to a person. And with the safeties off it was highly likely to incapacitate.

But even if they couldn't get close enough to zap the people inside, six drones flying through the cargo bar would be quite the distraction, allowing Jennifer to move in without being fired upon.

Blake relaxes, staring at the computer screen with unfocused eyes, hoping whatever it is will come to him.

Blake, my sensors detect an explosion in the corridors outside cargo bay three. Several men are wounded. SHould I alert medical?

"Yes, and the bridge please."

"Also, reactivate Jennifer's comms, and warn medical that the situation in the cargo bay is not contained."

Blake starts looking into the mystery of the hidden schematics.

Blake manages to pull up the info he is looking for, passing several high security barriers and firewalls. It is quickly obvious he is looking in on files he is not supposed to see. At all.

A few more adjustments and...